Method for filling containers

ABSTRACT

A container for a carbonated beverage is made by bringing two container halves close together and pumping the beverage into the interior through the remaining gap around a major part of the periphery of the container. Then the gap is closed and cooperating flanges welded together.

United States Patent [1 1 Gauntlett [451 Aug. 27, 1974 METHOD FOR FILLING CONTAINERS [76] Inventor: John Harry Gauntlett, Mayfield, 7

Kingsdene, Tadworth, England [22] Filed: Mar. 31, 1972 [21] Appl; No.: 240,021

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 3, 1971 Great Britain 8613/71 [52] US. Cl 53/22 R, 53/37, 53/86, 53/112 R, 53/268, 156/73, 156/580 [51] Int. Cl B65b 3/04, B65b 3/18, B67b 5/00 [58] Field of Search 53/37, 39, 275, 272, 274, 53/268, 83, 86, 281, 282, 22 R, 112 R, 173,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,326,296 8/1943 Harrison et a1. 53/275 X 2,976,654 3/1961 Vogt 53/37 3,016,669 1/1962 Grosclaude 53/37 X 3,246,447 4/1966 Smith et al..... 53/112 R X 3,314,210 4/1967 Jarund 53/175 X 3,360,382 12/1965 Miller 531/22 R 3,388,528 6/1968 Croall et a1. 5.3/282 X 3,464,102 9/1969 soloff 156/73 X 3,483,066 12/1969 Harris et a1. 156/73 X 3,483,666 12/1969 Harmes et a1.. 53/37 X 3,538,670 11/1970 Morgan 53/83 X 3,681,176 8/1972 Reifenhauser et a]. 156/73 X Primary ExaminerTravis S. McGehee Assistant ExaminerHorace M. Culver Attorney, Agent, or FirmWats0n, Co1e, Grindle & Watson ABSTRACT A container for a carbonated beverage is made by bringing two container halves close together and pumping the beverage into the interior through the remaining gap around a major part of the periphery of the container. Then the gap is closed and co-operating flanges welded together.

15 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Rueckert et a1. 53/22 A PATENIED M162! 1974 ,SHEETIUF 4 PATENTED A1162 7 I974 SHEET 2 BF 4 PATENTED ma 3.831.341

SHEET 30!" 4 METHOD FOR FILLING CONTAINERS This invention relates to a method and a machine for providing fluid filled containers and one object of the invention is to provide an economical method of providing a fluid filled container which is an alternative to such containers as are known at present as metal cans and glass bottles, which are creating serious problems in disposing of used containers.

Thus the invention is applicable to containers formed from a sheet plastics material which may be one which I can easily be disposed of or destroyed after use. For ex- A convenient method of joining the containers is by ultra-sonic or other welding of external flanges constituting the corresponding surfaces and for this purpose each part of the container may be held in the respective holder which holders constitute an anvil and a welding horn and can be brought together to form the container. I

Filling is conveniently through the part of the gap between the corresponding surfaces which extend round a major part of the container periphery and then the minor part of the gap can lead to an exhaust chamber for fluid driven out.

Thus first of all the container may be purged of air by pumping carbon dioxide into the container and then the fluid with which the container is to be filled, for example, a carbonated drink, can enter to drive off the purging fluid. This filling can take place when the gap is quite narrow and as soon as the container is filled the gap can be closed and the containers joined together.

The flow of fluid between the corresponding surfaces prepares the surfaces for joining and in fact ultra-sonic welding of plastic surfaces can be effected even if some fluid is left between them.

According to another aspect of the invention a machine for making containers and filling them with fluid includes a fluid chamber, holders for two partcontainers. means for bringing the holders closely adjacent each other and in close relationship with the fluid chamber. means controlling the supply of fluid from the chamber into the interior of a container constituted by part-containers one in each holder through the gap between them. means for moving the holders closer together, and means for sealing together part-containers one in each holder. to complete the container.

The chamber is conveniently of annular form surrounding the gap and there may be sealing means between the chamber and each of the holders when it is brought into close relationship with the fluid chamber, so that the container can be filled through the gap driving out the air or other gas that was previously within the part-containers. For this purpose the controlling means may comprise a non-retum valve in the chamber extending around the gap.

The machine may include a supply of purging fluid and a supply of filling fluid and means for connecting them alternatively to the fluid chamber.

Preferably the machine is immersed in a bath of carbon dioxide or other gas for replacing air in the container before filling with liquid.

The invention also includes a container of fluid comprising two part-containers which has been joined together by a method or machine as defined above.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways including rotary or nonintermittent forms and one embodiment will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container filling and welding machine embodying the invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrammatic plan views of the machine of FIG. 1 respectively in two different operating positions;

FIG. 4 is a partly diagrammatic end view of an indexing plate in the machine of FIG. 1 to an increased scale;

FIG. 5 is a sectional elevation of components of the machine of FIG. 1 to a further increased scale;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how container halves can be nested in a stack before being supplied to the machine; and, FIG. 7 shows an alternative to FIG. 5.

The machine is for making and filling containers, for example, for a carbonated drink, each of which containers is manufactured from two vacuum assisted formed thermo-plastic halvesl l which may or may not be identical but which have co-operating flanges 12 which can be welded together to form the complete container as shown best in FIG. 5.

The two halves are welded together when in a filling and welding station 13 which is the first of three stations 13, 14 and 15 in the machine to each of which the containers are fed in turn by means of a rotatable indexing plate 16 which turns on a central axial shaft 17. The second station 14 is a sleeving station to be described in more detail later and the third station is a take-out station 15 from which the filled and welded containers are removed so that a vacant position 18 in the plate 16 can be turned round to the fill and weld station 13 ready for receiving the components for the next container.

Thereis an appropriate dwell time while the plate is in each of its three indexed positions.

Welding is by an ultra-sonic method and for this purpose there are at the fill and weld station 13 an anvil 19 and a welding horn 21 which latter is driven from an ultra-sonic transducer 22, being on either side of the plate 16 and being capable of axial reciprocating movement between positions shown at 19 and 21 in FIG. 2 and positions shown at 19 and 21 in FIG. 3.

When the anvil and horn are spaced away from the plate 16 as shown in FIG. 2, each can be charged with a container half 11 which fits a corresponding recess in the anvil or horn with a small surrounding air gap as shown at 23 in FIG. 5, but which the flanges 12 in intimate contact with annular rims 24 round the mouths of the anvil and horn respectively.

Thus when the anvil and horn are brought together as shown in FIG. 5 and the transducer 22 is operated the flanges can be welded together to complete the sealed container.

However in accordance with the invention the filling of the container is carried out just prior to the welding of the flanges 12 on the two halves when the gap between the two halves is small, for example, of the order of 1mm. in the case of a container with a diameter in the range of about 2 inches to 4 inches.

FIG. 5 shows how when the anvil and horn 19 and 21, each with its loaded half 11, are brought together, the gap between the half flanges 12 is in communication with an annular gallery 25 formed in the plate 16 which is supplied with purging and filling fluid as will be described later with particular reference to FIG. 4.

When the gallery is pressurized, fluid can flow from it through a non-return valve in the form of an elastically deformable tube 26 between two permanently connected halves of the plate 16 and into the annular gap between the flanges 12 around the complete circumference of the container except for an arc of about 50 extent at the top of the station where there is formed an exhaust chamber 27 shown best in FIG. 4 into which air or other fluid driven out by the incoming pressurised fluid can be driven and from which it can escape through an adjustably spring-loaded non-return ball valve 28.

When the anvil and horn come together on either side of the plate 16 external flanges 29 on the anvil and horn come into elastic contact with an annular flexible seal 31 on the corresponding side of the plate 16 to complete a seal between the interior of the container and the surrounding area.

It follows that when the container halves have been brought almost into contact with each other and the gallery 25 is pressurised; fluids from the gallery enters the container, driving out the existing fluid through the ball valve 28, and then the container halves can be brought together finally by producing the necessary slight axial movement of the anvil and horn towards each other and the flanges can be welded together to complete the container.

It is to be noted that when the container has been filled with a carbonated beverage say, the passage of the beverage between the flanges prepares the flange surfaces for welding and that in fact ultra-sonic welding can be effectively carried out even if some fluid is left trapped between them.

FIG. 4 shows that the gallery 25 can be supplied with the carbonated drink from a bottle 32 or with carbon dioxide gas under pressure from a bottle 33. Supply of either fluid is by means of a double-acting piston 34 in a cylinder 35each end of which is connected to one of the bottles through a non-return valve 36 and each end of which is also connected to the inlet 37 to the gallery 25 by way of one of a pair of non-return valves 38.

Thus when the piston is moving from right to left in FIG. 4 the left hand end of thecylinder contains the carbonated drink which is pumped by the piston through one of the non-return valves 38 into the gallery 25 while the right hand end of the cylinder 35 is being filled with carbon dioxide, most of which is received back from the exhaust chamber 27 as the drink is introduced into the container, and any make up of which is supplied from the bottle 33.

When the piston is moving from left to right the left hand end of the cylinder is being refilled with drink and the carbon dioxide in the right hand end is being pumped into the gallery 25 to purge out the gas from an empty container which is being formed.

FIG. 4 shows the non-return ball valve 28 from the exhaust chamber 27 and shows how a passage 39 downstream of this return valve leads back to the right hand side of the cylinder 25 enabling the purging charge of carbon dioxide to be returned to the cylinder 35 as it is driven out by the incoming carbonated drink which will be at an appropriately high pressure.

There is a similar gallery arrangement at each of the three positions in the plate 16 corresponding to the three stations 13, 14 and 15 on the machine and each is arranged to be connected to the supply lines to the cylinder when in the fill and weld station 13.

The stroke of the piston 34 can be adjusted in accordance with the volume of drink to be supplied to any particular container being formed.

It may be noted with reference to FIG. 5 that the tube 26 which extends around the gap between the rims 24 throughout the periphery of the container except for the small angle occupied by the exhaust chamber 27 has its interior at atmospheric pressure so that it normally fills the space between co-operating curved surfaces on the two halves of the plate 16 as shown in FIG. 5. When the gallery is pressurised sufficiently, the tube partly collapses axially to allow fluid to enter the gap between the flanges 12 and in order to prevent the tube moving when partly collapsed in this way a metal ring 39 is fixed in position in its interior to locate it. Once pressure in the gallery has been removed the elasticity of the tube walls causes it to' close the valve again.

FIG. 1 shows how a formed and filled container can be moved by rotational indexing of the plate 16 to the sleeving station 14 where a cardboard sleeve 41 is fitted in close contact around the cylindrical part of each end of the filled and sealed container. The sleeve is relatively rigid in relation to the sheet thermo-plastics material forming the container and so enables a reasonable interior pressure to be withstood without having to have thermo-plastic walls of great thickness.

The next indexing step brings the welded filled container to the take out station 15 from which it can be delivered before the plate is indexed back to the fill and weld station 13. Before the plate indexes the anvil and horn are retracted sufficiently to clear the container and allow it to move to the sleeving station 14 and during this movement the anvil and horn can each be recharged with a new half 11 as indicated diagrammatically in FIGS. 2 and 3, and similarly both sides of the sleeving station 14 can be recharged with a fresh sleeve 41 also as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show how two plates 16 and 16' can be mounted on a common shaft 17 and that a carrier 42 for the anvil 19 for the left hand containers being manufactured, can move towards the left hand plate 16 to form one container while it is moving away from the formed right hand container ready for recharging and in this way the rate of production can be doubled while only increasing the size of the machine by perhaps percent. I

FIG. 6 shows how the container halves 11 can be of generally frusto-conical cup form to be capable of nesting together in a stack by virtue of several shallow indentations 43 disposed circumferentially around the frusto-conical wall. This serves for economy in storing the uncompleted container halves but when the container is pressurised internally with the fluid the pressure is sufficient to force out the indents so that the container takes up the generally cyclindrical form which is desirable in many applications and indeed enables the sleeve 41 to be cylindrical rather than frustconical.

lt is pointed out that the halves may not be identical halves but in general may be two parts which together form a container and have corresponding surfaces for welding together. During welding the anvil may be caused to rotate to move a high spot around the flange to get a particularly strong weld.

The valve 28 will be set to have a pressure of carbon dioxide in the container prior to entry of the liquid sufficiently high to prevent carbon dioxide in the liquid coming out of solution.

In an alternative embodiment shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7, the pressure loaded area on the oscillating welding horn can be reduced by substituting for the horn 19 of FIG. 5, a rigid external body 48 and an internal oscillating welding horn 49, driven through a reduced area and preferably sealed flexibly at the nodal point.

The horn 49 co-operates with the internal annular part of the anvil 21 and the body 48 makes the seal 31 (shown diagrammatically in F IG. 7). A seal 51 between the members 48 and 49 maintain fluid pressure inside the body 48.

The loading on the welding horn may be further reduced by angling the axis of the chamber so that the horn will be higher than the anvil and surrounded more by gas which will absorb less energy than liquid which will sink to a lower part.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A method for making fluid-filled containers comprising:

holding two part-containers of plastic material in respective holders comprising respectively ananvil and a welding horn;

positioning the holders and thereby the partcontainers with respective corresponding surfaces thereon disposed adjacent one another and defining a gap therebetween;

feeding fluid into the container through a part of the gap which extends around a major part of the periphery of the container; exhausting fluid in the container through a minor part of the length of the gap during said feeding step; closing the gap; and uniting the surfaces to complete the container by applying ultrasonic vibrationsto the welding horn acting against the anvil through the material of the corresponding surface of the part containers. 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein a remnant of the fluid remains disposed between said surfaces while the same are being united.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the fluid is a carbonated beverage.

4. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein a pressurized fluid is disposed on either side of said surfaces while the same are being united.

5. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fluid feeding step comprises feeding a purging fluid into the container through the gap to drive out air and thereafter feeding the fluid to be finally contained into the chamber to drive out the purging fluid.

6. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the partcontainers comprise container halves having annular flanges presenting said surfaces.

7. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein is included the step of fitting one or more relatively rigid reinforcing sleeves over the completed container.

8. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein is included the steps of providing the part-containers as a nested stack of frusto-conical cups, taking individual cups from the stack for forming into containers and filling, and internally pressurized the cups to change the same from frusto-conical shape to cylindrical shape.

9. A machine for making containers and filling the same with fluid comprising:

a fluid source;

a pair of holders for holding respective partcontainers, one of said holders comprising an anvil and the other comprising a welding horn;

means for moving said holders and part-containers held thereby into closely spaced relative relationship with a gap therebetween and into a position adjacent said fluid source;

a non-return valve extending around said gap for introducing fluid from said source into the interior of the part-containers held by the holders through said gap therebetween;

means for moving the holders to bring the partcontainers into contact with one another;

and an ultrasonic transducer for imparting ultrasonic vibrations to the welding horn toward the anvil for sealing contacting portions of the part-containers together to complete the container.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein said fluid source includes an annular chamber disposed in surrounding relationship to the gap when the holders are in said position.

11. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein is included sealing means disposed between the fluid source and each of the holders when the latter are disposed in said position.

12. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein is included a valve-controlled exhaust chamber for receiving fluid driven from the container interior.

13. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein said source includes means for containing a supply of purging fluid and means for containing a supply of filling fluid, there being included means for connecting thetwo supply containing means alternatively to the fluid introducing means.

14. A machine as set forth in claim 13 wherein said connecting means comprises a double acting piston and a cylinder therefor, the opposite ends of the cylinder being connected respectively to the two supply containing means.

15. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein is included a sleeving station having means for fitting sleeves over completed containers. 

1. A method for making fluid-filled containers comprising: holding two part-containers of plastic material in respective holders comprising respectively an anvil and a welding horn; positioning the holders and thereby the part-containers with respective corresponding surfaces thereon disposed adjacent one another and defining a gap therebetween; feeding fluid into the container through a part of the gap which extends around a major part of the periphery of the container; exhausting fluid in the container through a minor part of the length of the gap during said feeding step; closing the gap; and uniting the surfaces to complete the container by applying ultrasonic vibrations to the welding horn acting against the anvil through the material of the corresponding surface of the part containers.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein a remnant of the fluid remains disposed between said surfaces while the same are being united.
 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the fluid is a carbonated beverage.
 4. A method as set forth in claim 2 wherein a pressurized fluid is disposed on either side of said surfaces while the same are being united.
 5. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fluid feeding step comprises feeding a purging fluid into the container through the gap to drive out air and thereafter feeding the fluid to be finally contained into the chamber to drive out the purging fluid.
 6. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the part-containers comprise container halves having annular flanges presenting said surfaces.
 7. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein is included the step of fitting one or more relatively rigid reinforcing sleeves over the completed container.
 8. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein is included the steps of providing the part-containers as a nested stack of frusto-conical cups, taking individual cups from the stack for forming into containers and filling, and internally pressurized the cups to change the same from frusto-conical shape to cylindrical shape.
 9. A machine for making containers and filling the same with fluid comprising: a fluid source; a pair of holders for holding respective part-containers, one of said holders comprising an anvil and the other comprising a welding horn; means for moving said holders and part-containers held thereby into closely spaced relative relationship with a gap therebetween and into a position adjacent said fluid source; a non-return valve extending around said gap for introducing fluid from said source into the interior of the part-containers held by the holders through said gap therebetween; means for moving the holders to bring the part-containers into contact with one another; and an ultrasonic transducer for imparting ultrasonic vibrations to the welding horn toward the anvil for sealing contacting portions of the part-containers together to complete the container.
 10. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein said fluid source includes an annular chamber disposed in surrounding relationship to the gap when the holders are in said position.
 11. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein is included sealing means disposed between the fluid source and each of the holders when the latter are disposed in said position.
 12. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein is included a valve-controlled exhaust chamber for receiving fluid driven from the container interior.
 13. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein said source includes means for containing a supply of purging fLuid and means for containing a supply of filling fluid, there being included means for connecting the two supply containing means alternatively to the fluid introducing means.
 14. A machine as set forth in claim 13 wherein said connecting means comprises a double acting piston and a cylinder therefor, the opposite ends of the cylinder being connected respectively to the two supply containing means.
 15. A machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein is included a sleeving station having means for fitting sleeves over completed containers. 